I’m sitting here waiting for friends to arrive so that we can float and sip in the pool.  It’s been a busy weekend.  My last day of work was Friday, and Aaron graduated same day.  We feasted and went to see the latest X-men movie, which was fun.  On Saturday we went up north to camp and watch the meteor shower.  While we didn’t see anything amazing in the heavens we did manage to have way too good a time — came home absolutely exhausted.  Since today is Memorial Day, it’s still a normal day off.  Tomorrow, however, begins the work week, and I get to do absolutely nothing if I wanted to.  Right now I’m sooooo looking forward to some down time, although there won’t be much of it.  Kaylene and I have a trip planned to D.C., then Joe and I will visit Kyle in Colorado, and, well, you know there’s the whole planning to move to the Middle East thing.  But, TODAY I get all wrinkly in the pool.  Amen to time off!

  Two of my monsters.  Kyle was lost in the crowd.  I’ll post more about him after the Colorado visit.  I’m sure there will be some great pics there!

And, here’s the latest blog posted for Teach UAE (I truly do feel like I’m living in parallel worlds — my Arizona now and my Abu Dhabi tomorrow):  http://teachuae.com/this-is-what-its-all-about/

The above photo and my  following post was first published on Teach UAE Magazine’s blog at http://teachuae.com/think-theyll-notice-im-little-different/

But I’m too lazy to write another blog post, so I’m posting below.  The only thing I have to add is I’ve been so caught up with my upcoming move that I haven’t done a whole lot for another big event in my life — my son’s graduation.  So, I’m busy with that right now.  Okay here’s the blog:

——————————————————————————–

I’m closing out the school year like I always do. While I’m going through the motions, I am not the same person I was just a few months ago.  I love this time of year.  There’s Mother’s Day, my birthday, the last day of work, and woo hoo, the first day of summer break.  It’s normally all about celebrating me and my much-needed free time.

Up until this weekend I’ve totally been my yee-haw-it’s-almost-over self, but then it hit me that oh wow, this is the beginning of my goodbyes.

My first adios came from my tax accountant when I emailed him to see if I could still use his services while overseas.  His response was:  “You’ll have to get someone else.  It’s been nice talking to you.”

I joked about how I just got dumped and that I’d be looking for a new accountant with a brand new, more expensive calculator.  But, just like that, the guy whose been whipping out my refunds is gone.

Then I spent the weekend rummaging through old photos with my daughter. My youngest will graduate next weekend, and, of course, we were looking for the humiliating baby shots to show off to his buddies. A few days ago, I was boasting about how much living I’m going to do without having to worry about my children.  Now, I miss the little buggers.  For the first time ever I got nostalgic over loaded diapers and bulky strollers.

Luckily, before I could get misty eyed, my daughter opened the wedding album.

“OMG you were so skinny,”she says. “You’re anorexic compared to the way you are now.”

I kindly reminded her that she has my figure and that she too will one day have my current physique.  That shut her up and got me back to appreciating my upcoming kid-less life.

The exclamation point to the new me came early Monday morning when I went to a meeting about how this year’s data is being used to mold next year’s activities.  I didn’t have to go but I wanted to (which is so unlike me). I almost cried at the test results being shared. Not because they were poor grades, but because I realized that I won’t be there to help out with next year’s objectives.

Hello? I’m getting choked up over numbers and objectives.

The good news is I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of data for me to blubber about and get attached to in Abu Dhabi!  I also sense that I’ll be my old chipper self-planning for next year’s summer break. Until then, I’m trying to fit into my old world while anticipating the new.

I’m also getting lazy on you guys (whomever you may be).  Below is a post on the blog I write for Teach UAE magazine. This way I meet my weekly posting goal here, and I once again share how crazy I’m going over this whole change-my-world thing.  Three more weeks left of work here, and then it’s get ready for the big move — IF I don’t go legit insane.  Oh, and the reason for my odd ailment fears is that when I land in the UAE I will be tested and x-rayed for an assortment of diseases. If I show evidence of having had, or currently have, any of them I’ll be sent back home. 

How is this for being a few pegs shy of normal?  I’m an obnoxiously happy camper today because I had a freckle (okay it’s an age spot) removed from my scalp.  I’ve had this for at least 10 years, but all of a sudden I’m panicked that it’s cancerous.  It wasn’t but the doctor offered to freeze it off anyway.  The poor guy tried to keep from going cross-eyed over my prattle of potential ailments because it seems I was worried about a lot more.

“I had chicken pox in my thirties.  I was told (or maybe I read it online) it could’ve scarred my lungs.  Could that be mistaken for TB scarring?”  Before he could answer, I blurted out my next fear, “I had the first set of hepatitis shots when I went to Ghana, is that going to give me a false positive?”  His eyes go big when I say, “I’d know if I had syphilis, right?”  And now that I think about it he may have thought I did because doesn’t syphilis eventually cause you to go insane?

After advising me to breathe and to explain what was really bothering me, I told him that I’m afraid.  I’ve quit my job of 10 years and with it will go my insurance.  I have until May 31st before my American benefits run out. What worries me the most, though, is going to Abu Dhabi in August only to get sent back because of some unknown illness —- with no job and no health insurance.

The doctor calms me down by reminding me of how healthy I am (my kids have seen him way more than I have in the 12 years we’ve been going there), and then he tells me what he can do to help me out.  He throws in some extra tests to be done with my blood work, gives me my second round of hepatitis shots (apparently my blood work will show that I have the antibodies not the disease), and offers to do a TB test (which I declined because I had one done a few years ago at work).

“Relax.  You’re going on a fantastic adventure,” he says.  “Now let’s get that spot removed for you.”

As the nitrogen crackled away, I almost cried tears of relief.  It’s going to be okay.  I’m really going, and nothing freaky is going to deport me.  Yes, the enormity of my upcoming move sometimes overshadows my excitement over it, but it is all going to work out.  Now I can go back to obsessing over what I’m packing, what I’ll be teaching, where I’ll be living. Too bad the doctor can’t cure me of those worries.